19 Comments
Mar 24, 2023Liked by Dr. Syed Haider

There seems to be a fixation on water in this country. Growing up there were never water bottles attached to people like overgrown babies. I wonder how much has become a habit... and is what people think is thirst really just a pavlov dog training? Those I know who are addicted to water are also constantly hunting a bathroom. If the body was so in need of water it wouldn't be getting rid of it so quickly, would it?

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Yes, I realized that the more water I drink and more often I drink it the thirstier I feel.

You would think that if overeating is bad, then over drinking would be bad too.

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Mar 23, 2023Liked by Dr. Syed Haider

Thank you.

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Mar 23, 2023Liked by Dr. Syed Haider

Thanks for sharing Doctor.

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Mar 24, 2023Liked by Dr. Syed Haider

I do a Modified Dry fast, in that, I reverse it from Dusk to dawn instead of dawn to dusk. I'm not Muslim so I get to take liberties. Lol

I now more deeply understand the benefits of why I am doing this. Thank you.

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Mar 24, 2023Liked by Dr. Syed Haider

Ha, I’m halfway through reading The Phoenix Protocol (on dry fasting). I may give it a go again after a bike race I’m attempting to get ready for. I think I went for 3 days last time, wasn’t a big deal, but didn’t help my tinnitus as I’d hoped.

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I just got the book also, will have to make time to check his references.

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Is this the Dunning book or the Masters book? I see 2 Phoenix books / 2 authors.

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Mar 24, 2023Liked by Dr. Syed Haider

Oh love Dr Chetty! Thank him for me, I began using/added cetirizine to treat the 'vid in hundreds when I saw him on youtube in 2021. What a reasoned doctor, I'm thankful. This is very interesting too Dr Haider, I'll give it a whirl!

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Mar 24, 2023Liked by Dr. Syed Haider

Interesting. I do intermittent fasting - 16 hrs/day, but usually with liquids, but I may try this. Life is just easier w/o worrying about meals so often :-)

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Mar 23, 2023Liked by Dr. Syed Haider

Back in my paid journalism days I went to Afghanistan and the flight landed in Peshawar. I had a bottle of water in my hand and I got yelled at by a colleague who knew it was Ramadan and I was in the wrong chugging water when Pakistanis could not. Gulp. Or no gulp.

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MMA fighters cut a lot of weight in a short amount of time via water loss. I imagine they drain water from their fat cells as well, but it all comes back after they re-hydrate.

So I'd wonder how much of the noticiable fat reduction is actually a temporary loss of water vs the fat actually being burned. They say you start burning fat once you get into a ketonic phase of fasting, so I wonder what the water fast would add to that.

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This sounds interesting. Though I wonder if it matters when you actually do a water fast.

Everyone water fasts 8 hours per night when they sleep. So this seems to turn that around into a 16 hour fast. Would it matter then when you begin your fast?

What if you instead only drink from 6am to noon, then it's an 18 hour water fast.

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Interesting article Dr Haider. I have done water fasts up to a week (so far) for anti cancer / autophagy purposes, but know little about dry fasting. I also try to time restrict my eating during the day and tend to limit intake. Guess I have a few questions as a result, especially since I am not familiar with the rituals of Ramadan.

Usually the autophagy in a water fast starts to occur after 3 days, so does the act of ‘feasting’ or just eating after sundown break that cycle? Or does autophagy still occur during the day because you are also restricting water intake?

What are restrictions or recommendations of the food intake during the feasting period, if anything? Do you have any guidance on food that maximizes any anti cancer benefits to the fast?

I get that this is for one month per year mainly for religious purposes, however, would there also be a benefit to doing the same throughout the year, let’s say one week per month or two weeks every quarter? On a modified fasting schedule? Or do you think that a dry fast is only really effective when it spans a full month?

I have found your articles very interesting and informative, although I have not had long Covid or Covid. Very appreciative and open though to learning more regarding this fasting.

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I have one more question- a lot of advice says that you should not eat within 3 hours of sleeping or roughly after 7 pm, which now for us is before dusk/sundown, so are there any negatives to eating later than usual? Is moving a limited eating window to earlier to accommodate this while it’s still daylight out work as well. Or is the real motivation to delay food/drink to the least active part of the day and extend the fasting part as long as possible? Again, I do recognize that there is a significant religious ritual to this. Perhaps this is why adhering to a ritual might be easier than overthinking every aspect.

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I remember an interview on NPR where someone said that often people gain weight durring Ramadan from the feasting that happens when the sun goes down.

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Yeah, the studies show the opposite, but studies are inherently biased since people act differently when they're being watched. As I said in the post you can certainly feast like a maniac all night and gain weight - but this is not what most people in the world do. It's what crazy rich Arabs do in their fake cities in the fake oases they've built in the middle of their deserts where there's nothing else to do if you're a high-time preference useless eater but to eat.

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SEEMS Like there is a big uptick in violence from some sectors during this time frame.. people getting cranky?

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Quite possibly why there is a very big focus on the spiritual aspect in the cultures that do this and very little focus on the physical aspect. As cultures become more materialistic these problems worsen.

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